Feather
by Vamp-girl1010
Summary: The Flock arent the only bird kids around, and the story's about their life and troubles. Of course the Flock is still involved.
1. Escape

The sound of an engine woke me up. I sat up slowly in bed, adrenaline beginning to boil in my veins. I was out living in the middle of nowhere. A car shouldn't be here, especially in the middle of the night. I jumped off of the top bunk of my bunk bed and crouched down by the widow nimbly. Claire, one the bottom bunk, was as awake and alert as I was. I gestured with my right hand towards the back end of the house.

She nodded in understanding. Like I told her to, she headed to the back door to see if we were surrounded. We had gotten pretty good at communicating without words. I peeked out of the corner of the widow. A big black SUV was parked out on the dirt in front of our house. The glare of the head lights made it hard to see who was in the car. All I could see were two dark silhouettes in the front seat. I cursed will Claire was still away. I didn't want the nine year-old to become a potty mouth.

Claire crouched back into the room. The lights from the car illuminated her. Her dark hair was disheveled and her dark green eyes were filled with fear and exhaustion. I wanted to comfort her. But that would take too long and our time alone in the house was wearing thin.

She pointed towards the backdoor and nodded. Dang it, they had people at the backdoor. Our only escape would be through the widow in the bathroom. There was a thick wall of brush that would enable us to get out without them seeing us. Of course, it would take a little more than normal humans could give. Claire pointed towards the widow. I realized the light from the car was gone. I peered out the widow again. The moon illuminated the car, which was now vacant. Chills raced up and down my spine.

The sound of the door being knocked on froze both Claire and me. Her had shot out and gripped my forearm. Now was time for us to go out the widow. I tilted my head in the general direction of the bathroom. She nodded and her hand fell away from my arm. She went first on her hands and knees. You could easily see outside. I was pretty sure you couldn't see anyone inside. I was banking on that. If they didn't see us, we could sneak out undetected.

I followed her into the bathroom besides the open kitchen we had. The bathroom was dark. I could barely even see Claire. I had just entered the bathroom when the door was knocked off its hinges. I cut off Claire's gasp by slapping my hand on her mouth. I put a finger to my lips. We couldn't give away our location. I eased my hand off her mouth when I was sure Claire wouldn't gasp or worse.

"Claire," I froze as a voice called Claire's name out. Thomas, it was Thomas. I grabbed Claire's arm as she tried to go to him. Thomas wasn't dead, but he was with _them_. It didn't matter if I viewed him as a brother before. Claire whimpered into my shoulder, too low for them to hear. I patted her back once then pulled her to the widow. We had to get out of here.

"Em, I know you're here. Quite hiding and we can talk. The men won't hurt you, I promise." He talked to me with a soothing tone that once made my fear and anxiety melt away. It didn't work now. I unlatched the widow and eased it open. It did so without making a noise.

"Emily, please come out. Claire you come too." He sounded desperate. I didn't believe it one bit. I'd seen that SUV before as it tried to run Claire and me over. I boosted Claire up to the widow before she could escape me. She eased herself out of the window with one final glance behind her.

I was about to ease out myself when I heard an "Aha!" behind me. I whirled around to see Thomas in the doorway. He'd grown a few inches, now 6'1. His caramel colored hair fell in his eyes. I blinked right as he lunged for me. Somehow I made it around him. Claire gasped as she saw what happened.

"Go! Claire go now!" I commanded as I maneuvered my way out of the bathroom. One of the big guys by the door pulled out a dart gun. So they wanted us alive. I dodged out of the way of one of the darts. They weren't going to take me that easily.

"Emily, it'll go better if you just give in now." Thomas was out of the bathroom now. I backpedaled, making sure they didn't back me into a wall.

"Go to hell." I snarled and leaped out the widow I had backed up against. Did they not even see the thing behind me? The glass cut my arms and legs. I had ducked my head, so it didn't touch my face or my scalp. I heard the men curse behind me. I laughed and leaped into the air. I unfurled my 14 feet long wings. I joined Claire in the air. We sped away. The thing I forgot about was the fact that Thomas had wings too.

He was right behind us. Claire gave me a stricken look. She knew if we couldn't get away from him we'd be dead. I tried to beat my wings faster but Thomas's wings had grown along with his body. He was on us in seconds. I pulled Claire down with me as I folded in my wings. I shot down to the forest beneath us. I unfurled my wings again as we hit the ground. The landing was hard, but it didn't hurt as much as it would have if I hadn't unfurled. For now, we had to hide form Thomas.

"Are we going to die?" Claire asked, looking at the ground. I wrapped my arms around her.

"Not if I can help it." I let her go. I was going to keep Claire alive. Even if it took my life.


	2. The Flight

They gave up searching for us when the sun peaked over the horizon. I was slightly grateful but that didn't seem to be the way they did things. They _never_ gave up. Claire and I had learned that the hard way. She shivered as the shadows in the forest grew darker as the sun rose. Claire and I had spent the night huddled in a bush hiding from them. It went pretty well. Claire stretched out her arms as we stood up. I was aching all over from staying in a ball for too long.

"I'm hungry," Claire covered her stomach which had just growled. I knew at some point I'd have to get her food.

"I know me too." We couldn't leave the forest until I made sure we were safe. That meant I had to hunt for food. I wasn't really the best at that. Claire gave me a searching look and sighed. I didn't understand what that was about.

"It's safe, Em. They're gone." Claire reassured me. I gave her a blank look. How could she tell?

"Thomas isn't here." She said more slowly, like I was a small child and couldn't understand her.

"How do you know?" Talk about weird. This is the first time Claire had done this. I crouched down to her eye level.

"I can't sense him any more." She said like that explained everything. I shook my head. Whatever the heck she thought she could "sense" we still weren't leaving the forest. Claire sighed again.

"Can't you sense him, too?" She looked at me with round innocent eyes flecked with gold. She sounded so professional. How'd she get so mature?

"Am I supposed to?" I questioned. Claire got a look of concentration on her face.

"I don't know," she turned away. She unfurled her chocolate brown wings and looked back at me. The look told me she was leaving whether I liked it or not. I sighed and followed her into the sky.

"You're right," I told her as we circled around the forest. There was no sign or Thomas or the goons anywhere.

"I told you," she said that with a smile. I didn't know how she knew he wasn't around the forest. I wasn't going to pursue it either.

"Where do you want to go?" The house wasn't safe anymore. I had no doubt that the goons were there.

"I want to go see the people we saw on T.V. yesterday. You know, the kids who have wings like us!" The excitement was clear in her voice. That had been a question she'd ask me since the other bird kids came on T.V. The answer was always no. It was too dangerous.

"No."

"Please. Three of them are your age. You can hang out with Max. She seems like you, doesn't she?" She pleaded with me, using her puppy dog eye. I had gotten used to those eyes a long time ago.

"The answer is no. Let's go find ourselves a fast food restaurant before my stomach eats itself." I angled my wings east. Claire followed suite, pouting. She would be over it in an hour.

The landscape grew smaller as I saw more. I was so up high that the forest we left behind seemed like a big splotch of green. I could already tell Claire was happier by the way she zigzagged in the air. Flying always seemed to lighten the mood. She had a big dimply smile on her face. I was glad she was happy.

We flew 34 miles and ended up at a quick stop that wasn't open. I was sad we had to revert to stealing, but it was the only way to get food. Claire had her head down as I jimmied the lock. I really felt bad about doing that. After a minute the lock finally clicked and we snuck our way in.

The first row only had energy drinks. I didn't really want to see what that would do to Claire. I had already had her try coffee and she was bouncing off the walls. Not something I needed at the moment. I skipped three rows back and found the granola bars. That was healthy. I grabbed five and stuffed them in my pockets. There were also bottles of water in refrigerators in the back. There was also coke. I avoided them, much to Claire's disappointment.

I almost grabbed a few candy bars just because I liked candy. I reminded myself that we were stealing these things and to only take what Claire and I needed. I took two more waters for the fly. We would raid another store when we got to another. We probably would in a few hours.

I was about to grab Claire away from the candy row when the alarm finally decided to ring. Claire gave me a frantic look. I grabbed her wings and ran out of the store. A few people from the car wash a few rows over came out to look. Claire and I ducked out heads. I didn't want them seeing us. I could hear the distant sound of police alarms. Dang it! I grabbed Claire's arm again and ran into the surrounding wilderness. We had to find a way to unfurl our wings without being spotted.

I didn't really expect to run into police cars so fast. We had no where to go. My instincts took over. I really had no control over my wings as they unfurled. I leaped into the air as I'd done for years. The police officers had pulled over, intending to trap us. They stared dumbfounded as I glided higher. My hood was pulled over my head so they couldn't see my fiery red hair. I yearned to have it blowing out behind me.

Claire and I glided away form the police officers. I had no doubt that we would be in a news article tomorrow. I didn't know what would happen after that. I was too preoccupied in my hair blowing in the wind.


	3. Break

I picked up the newspaper on the counter. Claire leaned in close, reading the headline. It was about yesterday when the cops saw us. I gritted my teeth and set it back down. That really was a problem.

"What do we do?" Claire asked, looking back down at the newspaper.

"Avoid that town," I suggested. It really was my best idea. That and not to fly with anybody around. I felt like a juvenile delinquent when I gave the waitress the 20 dollar bill for the food we had just eaten. The money was from the gas station we stole from yesterday. Claire patted my hand, somehow knowing how I felt.

"Where are we going next?" Claire asked as she jumped out of the booth. I followed her out the revolving doors. The town we were in was a day away from our old house. I still didn't feel safe, even that far away.

"I don't know, anywhere really. I'm thinking we should find another house." I kicked up dirt on the ground beneath me.

"I want to go to Hawaii!" She shouted. I gave her the look that meant why-would-we-go-there.

"I want to go to the beach," she had a dreamy look on her face. I sighed. I didn't see any harm in going to Hawaii.

"Ok, maybe we could live there," I gave Claire a little push towards where the town ended. There would be a lot of stops to Hawaii but I guessed it was worth it. Claire and I would be able to see the ocean for the first time.

"Thank you," she hugged me around my waist. She let go and began skipping into the desert. That kid was the weirdest girl I knew. She was also the only girl I knew, but that wasn't the point.

Not soon enough we took to the skies again. My wings picked up the currents, making me rise higher. The last time I felt this free was when I was flying away from the institution that had created Claire, Thomas and me five years ago. That seemed like the happiest day of my life then. As I grew older my happiest days were with Claire and Thomas. I would never get that back. But I wasn't complaining. I _knew_ more happy days with Claire would come. And _I was going to see the ocean_!

Claire seemed as happy as I was. She did summer salts in the air as I flew under her. Her wings really were beautiful. The chocolate brown was flecked with bronze. My wings had a layer of black and a layer of brown. They went from really dark to only semi-dark. It was kind of cool, too. But Claire's were definitely better.

Two hours later we landed in the middle of the only trees I could see for miles. The sun was setting and the sky was alight with oranges and reds. It was spectacular. Claire collapsed against a tree. I handed her a granola bar and ripped into one of my own. There was nothing more tiring than flying. And it made me hungry. I was done with mine in seconds. I didn't eat another one; we _did_ need food for breakfast tomorrow. That's what sucked about having high metabolisms. You went through food _fast_.

"Em, Thomas is here," Claire said quietly. My whole body froze.

"What?" He couldn't be here. I dug my fingers into the dirt beneath my fingers.

"Thomas is here," she said again, more slowly. I thought of when she told me he had left and it turned out he did.

"Are you sure?" I was already in battle mode. My fingers twitched, waiting to be balled into a fist to punch. Claire eyes were wide. I could tell she was that way too.

"Positivo," she got up from her stop by the tree. Wait, when did she learn Spanish? Another one of her quirks at work there.

"Okay…Claire, where are they coming from?" I was taking a wild guess, but if she knew he was coming she should've known where.

"Behind you," that wasn't Claire's voice, it was Thomas's. I whirled around to face him. He somehow seemed to have changed from the last time I saw him. He looked more deadly.

"I am, Emily." He answered the question that ran through my head. I had taken a step back without even realizing what I was doing.

"How…" He cut me off.

"The look on your face Emily. You really should control those." He smiled wickedly and my heart lurched in my chest.

Was this really happening? I kept myself angled in front of Claire. She cringed whenever Thomas came closer. The goons came out of the forest, looking like angry dogs. I couldn't help but think of the Erasers. _They're all dead_, I comforted myself. _Don't worry, those guys can't go furry_.

While I was reassuring myself, Thomas had gestured to one of the goons. He came forward, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. He circled around me to face Claire. She cringed into my back. We were surrounded. I was happier Thomas faced me and not Claire.

"Emily, give up now and come with us. It'll be a lot easier. I won't hurt Claire if you two come." Thomas laughed as the man behind me grabbed Claire before I could get her. My heart lurched again. _This couldn't be happening_!

"No!" I screeched as the man joined his fellow comrades around us, taking Claire with him. Of course Thomas knew my weakness was Claire. I turned back to Thomas. My fists were balled. I was really ready to pound him.

"Come on, Emily, it's not that bad. The place we're taking you to is my home. Don't you want the three of us back together?" He laughed. I lunged at him.

He caught both of my hand with a steely grip. His hands were cold. I shivered. How could he be this cold in the middle of summer? His right hand squeezed my wrist lightly. The bone in my wrist broke. I screamed. How could he do that? What had they _done_ to him?


	4. Discovery

"Come on Em, don't be like that." Thomas didn't let go of my wrists. I bit my lip to keep from crying out again. I could taste my blood. He leaned in closer. Even his breath was cold.

"You hurt Claire and I will kill you." I threatened. My eyes were brimming with pain from the pain. It felt like someone was jabbing me with long needle.

"Just as feisty as you used to be, I see," he finally let go of the broken wrist. I ground my teeth together. The goons grinned when they saw the first tear run down my face. I really didn't like letting these guys see me cry. My arm hung limply at my side.

"Bite me," I bit down, hard, on the wrist that was holding me. He might've had amazing strength, but his skin broke just like the rest of us.

This time it was Thomas who cried out. He dropped my wrist and I flung my self back, into the goon behind me. The very same one who was holding Claire. I punched him in the face with my good had and grabbed Claire. I knocked a couple of goons out of the way and unfurled my wings. Before I knew it, we were up in the air. I pumped my wings. I was scared that if I let Claire go now, we wouldn't be fast enough to fly away.

"Emily!" The roar came from the spot we had just been. I knew it was Thomas. I also knew that he was pissed off. It was obvious that soon he would be in the air with us.

"Emily, drop," Claire pulled on my sweat shirt. I looked down into her very clear eyes. There was that same intensity in them that was there inside the forest. :"It'll be okay. Well be safe."

She sounded so sure. I reluctantly did what she said. I dive bombed into the trees, cover my face so that any branches would scratch my face or poke one of my eyes. I landed as gracefully as I could. I let Claire go and she pulled on the cuff of my sweat shirt, guiding me through the trees. The girl in front of me did not seem at all like Claire.

"Where are we going?" I felt like the child in this situation, clueless and innocent. I didn't like that feeling. It made me feel vulnerable.

"It's okay. They can't find us." She sounded like she was decades older than she actually was. I could help but me stuck on that. She seemed like a normal little girl before. As normal as kids like us could get.

"What do you mean?" They should have been able to find us. I mean, they found us before.

"Trust me. We'll get out of this. And then well find the other bird kids and they'll help us. Then we can live where ever we want to. We can see the ocean if we want. I do want to see the ocean." She led me deeper into the forest. The trees were so thick we could barely see the sky. Barely any sun peeked through them.

I could see the logic in her reasoning. The other bird kids could help us. They had more experience with this stuff than we did. I mean, they were saving the world. I just didn't want to expose ourselves. I didn't want more people coming after us. Thomas and the goons were enough.

"Em, I think I know why Thomas is chasing us now." Claire said in a grave voice. She stopped and turned to face me. Her eyes were filled with tears. Now this was the girl I knew. I hugged her.

"Why is he chasing us?" I stroked her hair, like I did when she woke up from nightmares.

"They want you." She shivered and I held her tighter.

"Why? Why do they want me?"

"They want you to be like Thomas. They want you and him to take over the world." Her words sent chills up and down my spine. They wanted Thomas and me to take over the world?

"How are we supposed to take over the world?" My voice wavered.

"You guys, together, can destroy the other bird kids. The only people who can save the world." She pressed her face into my stomach. Her shoulders heaved as she cried.

"Sshh, Claire, its okay. I won't let them turn me into a monster like Thomas." I soothed, and eventually she stopped crying. I wiped away my own tears before she could see them. Before she could discover that I was weak, too.

I didn't know how she knew all of this. Probably the same way she could tell Thomas was near us. I looked warily around. I listened closely but the only sounds were coming from us and the animals in the forest with us.

"Claire, is it safe to go now?" I studied her face. She seemed to concentrate really hard for a moment and then nodded.

"We have to get to the bird kids." She unfurled her wings but waited for me.

"Yeah we do." The feeling of dread at the pit of my stomach didn't go away, even when we were flying. I didn't want to see those bird kids. I didn't want us to get into any more danger.

"Don't worry, every things going to be okay." Her voice carried over to me even with the wind rushing in my ears. It was almost like she was speaking to me in my head. Her voice was whisper close.

"I know, hun, I know." But I didn't know, and I was still rushing into this. I focused on the wind in my face. It cleared away some of my doubt. There was still something there though. Something that told me to turn around and take Claire and hide. Forever. Claire looked over at me and gave me a dazzling smile. I returned it but as soon as she looked away it fell.

This was going to be a bumpy ride.


End file.
